Top Trade Show Exhibit Trends

The traditional purpose of trade shows has been to serve as an open platform for companies to “strut their stuff” and offer insight into the latest trends and innovations for the products and services in their industry. With a competitor only a few booths away, the hard sell has been inevitable – until now.

Current trends are creating a different climate at trade shows these days. With competition for the customer’s attention stronger than ever, exhibitors are no longer fixated on separating themselves from their competitors by focusing on a particular product and simply talking about solutions and benefits. Which leads us to the first, and probably most profound, trend in trade show exhibiting.

Experiential Exhibits:

Product pitches and demos are “out” – at least they are no longer the centerpiece of a trade show exhibit. Instead of the literal, one-on-one, “we’re better because . . .” spiel, the challenge has become creating an experience for the potential customer that leaves them in awe, or at least makes a strong enough impression that they forget about the competition. While the trade show booth is a temporary fixture, the idea is to create a space that has a feeling of permanence and keeps the customer engaged. So engaged, in fact, that the customer has a memorable experience, and associates that experience with your product – eliminating the need for the hard sell, and creating a smooth landing for the soft sell.

Each element of these “experiential exhibits” is crucial and must be carefully selected to effectively execute a cutting-edge, yet warm and inviting, space. Any sort of “edutainment” feature anchored in technology, such as interactive computer games that test knowledge or popular television game shows as a template for a game featuring facts and information about your company or industry, are a must-have. Making this part of your trade show booth space gives you an opportunity to make your booth more of an interactive space.

Materials:

There are many different types of materials that can be used and are used to make trade show displays. But because of it’s versatility and low cost in comparison to other materials, fabric is one of the trendiest materials to use for your booth. Metal and wood are used less frequently because of their weight, bulkiness and inflexibility.

You can use fabric in a subtle way, almost like a canvas, to create a backdrop for the theme of your space. And often, the light, airy nature of the fabrics used for today’s exhibits create a light, airy feeling for your trade show display. But more often, you will find fabric being used for the banner stands, such as the Allure tensioned fabric banner displays that have recently hit the market. These high-quality banners are quickly set up (about two minutes with no tools needed) and easy to put together, convenient to travel with (even on an airplane,) economical to ship, and, shelves can be added to the banners for a more sophisticated look. These advantages, along with the long life and durability of the Allure banners, makes them slightly more expensive than typical banner stands. But the extra money is worth it - these banners create such a strong presence that they can be used by themselves or combined with a pop-up or custom booth to really make your space “pop.”

Lighting:

Whether you are going for a more traditional trade show booth or the cutting-edge experiential, lighting is crucial in creating the mood for your space. Because of this, custom lighting is becoming more mainstream.

Using filtered or wash lights creates a mood that drastically contrasts with a trade show display that uses spotlights. But ambience is not the only reason custom lighting has become more popular. You can also use lighting – however dramatic or subdued – to bring attention to featured products.

The Final Touches

Today’s trade show visitors are limited on time and bombarded with a flurry of sales and marketing gimmicks. To “stand out in the crowd,” here are some additional trends that have emerged in recent years.

Booth Details – Once you have gotten a visitor’s attention and they have entered your space, you must give them a good reason to stick around for more than a couple of seconds. This is the time for you to immerse the customer with your brand. Visitors want to see how your product or service will benefit them – so show them. Testimonials are an easy way to achieve this, in addition to marketing materials featuring people using your product, as well as the standard product demonstration. And because presentation is everything, additional pieces in your booth, such as literature racks, are a good way to keep your space organized while attractively displaying your marketing materials without overwhelming prospects with too much information.

Time is of the Essence – With the demands of today’s busy work schedules, most visitors do not have an entire day to spend at a trade show. Their time at the event is valuable, so you must be able to get their attention and quickly and easily explain what your company offers. Some of these visitors will come to the trade show as a team, and the team will include decision-makers who evaluate you, in comparison with the competition.

Get the Word Out – This is a trend that has been around for awhile, but one that is often overlooked. Prior to the event, let your clients and potential customers know that you are participating in a trade show – use every promotional opportunity to mention it, use direct mail, email and other traditional marketing avenues to drive more traffic to your exhibit.

Trade shows are an essential piece of an overall successful marketing strategy. And implementing these trends for your trade show space will help create that memorable experience for clients and potential customers that will hopefully make follow-up a breeze.

By: dave4

Cheap Trade Show Displays

If you want to be cost effective with your trade show exhibitions or if you are preparing for your first trade show, you should choose cheap trade show displays for the best deal. Trade shows are effective sales devices for growing business, and most new enterprises are not financially strong enough to spend a large amount on an elaborate trade show display, so opting for a cheap display is a good idea. Don't try to produce a do-it-yourself display, instead, look for experts who can produce cost effective trade show displays that fit your budget.

There are many ways to get cheap trade show displays. First, always consider a rollup or banner display, as they are light, inexpensive, and easy to transport. Banners with graphic headlines can easily attract attention. You can use them anywhere and greatly minimize the cost of your booth. Secondly, if you want to use small space, a tabletop display unit would be the perfect because it is small, light, professional looking, and less expensive than a full booth. Thirdly, if buying would be a problem for you, then you should consider getting a rental display for the tradeshow. You can modify a used display and convert it to fit your needs. You can also form a partnership with someone who is participating in the show in order to share expenses.

The growing trend of tradeshows has given birth to many companies specializing in cheap trade show displays. It is hard for new businesses to spend lots of money on tradeshows, but the company must participate in the shows in order to expand. The best option for these companies is to choose a cheap tradeshow display.

By: Peter Emerson

Anatomy Of A Successful Trade Show Exhibit

A trade show, also known as a merchandise show or market week, is an exhibition or a business gathering organized by companies that showcase and demonstrate their new products and services and also their latest offerings. Trade shows also provide opportunities for companies to meet their customers, to learn new trends and to identify new prospects.

Trade shows are not open to the public and can only be attended by company representatives, members of the trade and members of the press. One advantage of holding a trade show is that it shortens the time it takes for companies to look for prospective customers. But the major disadvantage is that customers and prospects pay little attention to the many exhibitors and their products due to the many distractions and the busy atmosphere inherent in trade shows.

Exhibitors can make effective use of trade show displays in trade shows to direct visitors to their main display area. Trade show displays are used to give visitors a better understanding or appreciation of the products or services being marketed. Although exhibitors are only supposed to put their trade show displays within the confines of their designated trade show exhibit area, exhibitors also display items in strategic areas of the fair grounds. Trade show displays often used include banner stands, counters and cabinets, panel display etc. that clearly display the company logo, basic company information and company slogan.

The trade show booth is an important component of the trade show display as it aims to enhance the brand and marketing experience for the visitor. It facilitates valuable direct face-to-face contact between the companies and their prospective customers. The whole booth set-up includes counters kiosks, lighting, flooring, literature racks, banner stands and high impact graphics, with the booth design, the staffing and the handouts the main factors to a successful trade show booth.

Many companies prefer to rent pre-owned trade show exhibits and displays rather than to buy or to create them from scratch to save on the trade show booth construction costs and also on the expense of warehousing the displays after the trade show is over.

Trade shows demand a lot of work and effort, and exhibitors have to plan well in advance so as to make the trade show a success. It is because any successful trade show offers exhibitors with a very valuable opportunity to build relationships face-to-face with their clients and to close lucrative business deals.

By: Sue Jan

Trade Show Display Buying Guide

Products alone will not spell the success of your trade show exhibit. If marketed improperly, even the best of products will not be able to obtain maximum sales. Before we start buying trade show displays and tools, make sure you know everything about the trade show. If theyre using a particular theme, make sure your display will be designed accordingly. If the trade show hall has a particular motif, make sure your display would be enhanced by the surrounding colors, instead of clashing horribly.

1. What are your objectives and what is your budget?

What do you want to accomplish? How can the trade show display help you accomplish your objectives? How much budget do you have for your display? Determining your objectives and budgets will help prevent you from spending more than you should.

2. Booth styles

Popular PopUps

Pop-ups are the most commonly used trade show displays. There are many advantages to enjoy when you make use of pop-ups:

First, theyre affordable; that makes them a good choice for small to medium-sized companies who dont have extensive budgets set aside for trade show exhibits;

Secondly, theyre very easy to set-up; you dont need to hire a crew of specialists, technicians or artists to manage your trade show display;

Thirdly, theyre available in a wide variety of designs, fabrics and colors; your creativity will shine more brightly when you make use of pop-ups.

Fourthly, theyre both durable and require limited space.

Simple but Beautiful Panels

Panel displays are ideal if the products youre exhibiting are heavier than usual; with the right choice of quality and countertop design, panel displays will bring more elegance to your trade show. Panel displays are more suited for shows that exhibit computers and other expensive electronic gadgets and appliances.

3. HighEnd Modular Exhibits

If you want a trade show that shows more oomph without causing you to go over your budget, youll do probably well with modular exhibits. Such trade show displays commonly make use of expensive materials and are also able to bear the weight of heavy products and merchandise.

4. Be Bold with Truss Displays

If you want your trade show display to immediately catch the attention of people, you should make use of a truss system for your exhibit. Truss systems also make it easier for you to mount lighting and other equipment to obtain the intended tone and atmosphere for your booth. Because of the easy mounting and installation of lights and LCDS, they can create great visual impact, and that will work definitely to your advantage if your clients are expecting to be dazzled.

5. Personalize It

There is no limit when it comes to customized trade show displays. Anything that your creativity and imagination can produce will be made real, but be prepared for sky-high expenses. Customized trade show displays are the best option for large companies who can afford to pay for them. They may be necessary, however, for companies that are exhibiting larger than usual merchandise like engines, motors, and vehicles of all types.

6. Display without a Frame

Frameless trade show displays are actually a type of panel display; this time, a bendable plastic panel is used to create a stand-alone structure. Any experienced individual will be able to set up a frameless trade show alone because it only makes use of lightweight materials and the installation process is generally easy. Frameless trade show displays work well with paintings and any lightweight object that can be hung; they do not work at all for heavy merchandise or anything that must be displayed.

7. Pipe It and Drape It

Lastly, we get to the trickiest of the batch. Pipe and drape trade show displays are a bit complex to set up. Fabric drapes are clipped onto pipes with this type of trade show display. They do however serve as very great backdrops and can produce startling visual effects, given the right color, fabric and design.

By: Edward Bryce

The Ins And Outs Of Trade Show Exhibits

For people who are thinking of organizing or setting up a trade show exhibit, it is highly important that you know the things that are important for the success of the trade show event. With a small a mount of attention, you can easily come up with a successful trade show exhibit.

1. Setting

Let’s start with the place where the trade show exhibit will be held. The exhibit venue or the trade show space is highly reliant on the use of outstanding design for booths as well as other displays so that the organizers will be able to generate more traffic for the exhibit. For most trade show exhibit organizers, it is highly important that you are able to attract your desired customers in just under 10 seconds since the trade show exhibit viewers attention span can only last for so long.

2. Factors To Consider

- Location
- Theme
- Topic

3. Budget Concerns

The trade show exhibit organizers must always keep in mind that some venues for a trade show may seem just too perfect for words - and this comes at a high cost. Money definitely does not grow on trees and even big multinational companies who hire trade show organizers to create a trade show exhibit for their company simply cannot afford atrocious rates, whether it be for the trade show exhibit’s location, the design, or perks for visitors.

4. Displays

You can also opt to spend some extra money on the trade show exhibit displays. This is actually a good investment for you because the better your displays, the more people will be attracted to your show. When it comes to picking out a good trade show exhibit company, one should be able to effectively give a pre-show marketing for the trade show exhibit to increase traffic. According to the Center for Exhibition Industry Research, around 76% of the people who actually go would prefer to have some background information on what the theme of the trade show exhibit is and a selection of examples for the booths.

By: Edward Bryce

Your First Trade Show – Don’t Make These 5 Common Mistakes

Getting ready for your first trade show is both exciting and stressful. You have enormous hopes that your display will bring in tons of orders and new business, but you’ve seen similar companies land on their butts at a trade show. To get the most out of your first show, avoid these 5 common beginner's mistakes.

Mistake #1: The first mistake is to go into the project without a clear understanding of exactly how much it will cost. Will you be charged additional fees for items like electricity, for instance? Will there be a fee that must be paid to bring your booth from your truck to the exhibit floor?

There are several ways to avoid costly mistakes, and the most obvious is to ask as many questions as you can think up. But if you’ve never been to a trade show before, you may not know which questions to ask, and the one you don’t ask could be expensive.

So try to find a local company that did the same show last year, and give them a call. Ask them if there’s anything you should know about the show’s costs that might not be obvious to a newbie – most business people are more than happy to help out their fellow entrepreneurs, as long as you don’t call up a direct competitor.

Mistake #2: And about your staff… If you’ve ever attended a trade show as a potential customer, you’ve noticed that some booths catch your eye with appealing displays and graphics, and the offer appears to be exactly what you’re looking for, but the staff can’t answer your questions.

They may not even ask for your name or make any effort to turn your interest into a potential lead. (I’ve even seen booth staff listening to their iPod).

Clearly, this isn’t something you want to happen to you, so do whatever it takes to get your staff steamed up and enthusiastic for the show. Remember that standing on a hard floor for hours will drain anyone’s enthusiasm, so make arrangements for plenty of breaks. And be sure to decompress and check in at the end of each day, to give your staff a chance to share the techniques that seemed to work, and the ones that don’t.

Mistake #3: Have you ever made a purchase or given out your name and address to a salesperson simply because they seemed “nice?” Probably not. You like to buy from people who are interested in finding out what you’re looking for, what you’ll be using the item for, what your problems are and how they can help you fix them. So be sure your staff doesn’t simply say “hi” to the people who come to your booth.

It’s difficult to concentrate on one person when so many people are milling around, but it’s worth making the effort. If you don’t, you simply turn yourself into a robot handing out brochures – and that rarely turns your booth visitors into solid leads.

In the weeks leading up to your trade show, have regular meetings with the staff who will man your booth. Get their ideas on how to engage the display visitors, without being overwhelmed. Then use your daily debriefings at the end of each show day to see if the techniques worked.

Mistake #4: This one seems obvious, but setting a specific goal often gets lost in the mad rush to get everything ready for a trade show. What do you really want to get out of the show, in terms of ROI? How many new orders will make the effort worth the time and expense required by the show?

Are you looking for leads, for press recognition, for solid sales? If you don’t have goals (and if each member of your trade show staff doesn’t have a goal) you may just end up giving away a lot of expensive brochures. And you could do that in front of your local supermarket.

Mistake #5: Don’t get carried away with an expensive, complicated display. You may even want to call your local trade show display company and see if they will rent a used pop-up display, so your up-front costs will be as low as possible.

Then concentrate on creating a sign that makes your offer as visible and clear as possible, and put your effort into training your staff. This will usually bring far more ROI than a fancy trade show display booth on your first time out.

And be sure to use a display that is easy to set up – you don’t want to get to the show and discover that you’ve left an important part at the shop, or that you don’t have any idea which pole or widget goes where. Select a simple display, and then set it up in your shop before the show to make sure your staff knows exactly how it all goes together.

Your local trade show display dealer can be an excellent resource for you. But there may also be hidden costs, so ask as many questions as you can. Your success will be important to the display dealer, because they want you to come back when next year's trade show comes around.

By: Jonni L Good

Choosing Trade Shows That Won’t Let You Down

When you want to exhibit in trade shows, the first issue that you have to deal with is which trade show you will go. You can choose from a wide assortment of trade shows that are at hand. It would be useful if you attend some trade shows before you decide to be a trade show exhibitor. Be observant and sensitive on the do’s and don’ts or marketing when in the show floor. Pay attention to what exhibitors do when on the floor.

Choosing a trade show is quite complicated. It involves several elements that a trade show exhibitor should take into consideration before he or she attends a show. The first thing that you should take into account is the target market. This specifically pertains to the buyers and what kind of shows do they attend. Try to asses the show and see if it complements to your image, marketing strategy and budget. Is the show well thought-of? Are there many visitors in the show? It would be better if you talk to a trade show marketer and weigh up his or her qualifications as well as experience. Set some objectives. What do you want to achieve after the show? Let your displays be produced trade show experts in order to steer clear of some common trade show errors. You can the exhibit manual for further details regarding the booth space and the set-up times.

Choosing the right trade show is very critical in the progress of a certain business. You can be assured of a wonderful trade show experience when you opt for the trade show where potential buyers of your products and services will attend. Think about the prospective buyers who will make a purchase of your products and services. It’s also helpful if you get in touch with some trade show producers and ask them regarding the number of visitors who attend a trade show and what kind of promotional plan do they use to reach their targets. When you have gained all the answers to these questions, you can now determine who your prospective buyers are.

Remember that the most important thing here is to pick out the show that gives you the best traffic. Your main target here is to settle for the show that caters to the right audience and one which meets your trade show objectives. For this reason, you need to be careful in choosing the show. Give attention to all the details of the trade shows that are available specifically their goals and potential market.

By: Charmaine Joy Caro

Three Tips For Attending A Trade Show On The Cheap

It’s no secret that there are monumental benefits to attending a trade show – exposure to a targeted audience, opportunity to express your unique selling point, generating leads and soaking up industry knowledge at seminars and discussions. But when budgets are tight, your company’s accounting department is going to want you to trim the fat a little on your trade show budget.

You can use ideas usually overlooked for cheaper transportation, plan and negotiate to get discounted room & board and get trade show booth rentals rather than purchasing trade show displays. Here are a few tips to help you keep costs down, but still create impact and get the most from your trade show experience.

Transportation

Depending on where you are traveling from, how far in advance you make arrangements and the mode of transportation you choose, you can spend a little or go over the top on this one. Obviously, you can’t control where you are traveling from, or where the conference or trade show is held. But you can plan ahead, and be open to different travel options.

As with anything else, don’t wait until the last minute to make travel reservations. Sometimes this can’t be avoided, but if you plan your trade show schedule six months to a year in advance, and make your reservations several weeks prior to the event, you can save the company hundreds of dollars.

And when planning travel, remember that the plane is not the only way go. If the event is only a couple of hundred miles away, renting a van for the group, or partnering with another company who is also attending the event, renting a charter bus and splitting the cost could be a cheaper option. Also, riding the train, which many people overlook, is an affordable option. Attendees get to sit back and relax and meals are often included in the price.

Room & Board

Conference organizers often block off a number of rooms for attendees at a motel or hotel with a discounted rate. But if you don’t have this option available to you, there are several options for keeping costs in check.

First, keep in mind the distance between the hotel or motel and the conference. Booking rooms at an economy motel 15 minutes away from the event may seem like a good idea – at first. But keep in mind the costs of taking a cab back and forth can quickly add up. And, the inconvenience of being far away from a quick change of clothes, or grabbing something you may have forgotten can cause unnecessary duress. Instead, pair employees up (make sure they are compatible so that you don’t end up with an episode of Big Brother) and have them share a room.

Second, if you know you will be attending several events over the course of the year, shop around at the different hotel chains to see what kind of special discounts they offer for repeated hotel stays. Some of them offer discounts if you sign up for a special program, or you can get free night’s stay free night’s stay after you’ve booked a certain number of nights.

Third, try getting a room at a hotel that includes a continental or buffet breakfast to further cut on expenses. And if the establishment also has a restaurant, that can save you and your team the headache and cost of going elsewhere to eat.

Fourth, and last – avoid room service if you can, as this can add unnecessary costs to your budget.

Trade Show Booth Rentals

With a trade show booth rental instead of a trade show display purchase, you can save hundreds of dollars. Your space represents the image your company wants to project to the public – and for some of your future customers, this is the first time they will be meeting you.

While you can purchase smaller trade show displays and even table top panel displays to keep costs down, trade show booth rentals are even cheaper. This is a great option for companies:
• wanting to cut costs in the short-term or long-term
• that infrequently attend trade shows
• wanting to try out a few different styles before deciding on a purchase

Before you enter into a trade show booth rental agreement, make sure you read the fine print, ask plenty of questions and understand the terms. For example, what accessories, if any come with the trade show booth? What is the timeframe for you to return the product? What are the terms for any damage incurred?

Also, make sure you look into options for enhancing your trade show booth. Banner stands, literature racks, lighting, and other accessories can drive traffic to your space, increase the generation of leads, and directly influence your bottom line.

Attending a trade show needn’t put you in the red. There are economical alternatives to what you may have done in the past. Take a look at the bigger picture, get creative, and you can plan your event on a shoestring budget without sacrificing the value of attending and participating in a trade show.

By: Mat Kelly

Choosing The Design Of Your Trade Show Booth

You can never attract customers to stop at your booth if in the first place your booth is not pleasing to the eye. We all know that the purpose of trade shows is to grab customer’s attention but how will you do it if your booth doesn’t appeal to the attendees? What should you do to make your booth stand out?

In order to be noticeable, you need to be unique in presenting your products and services. A unique trade show presentation is sure to turn heads. Everyday consumers are flooded with different marketing message that’s why if you want to get noticed you have to be distinct from the rest. And one surefire way to reach this end is to carefully choose the design of your exhibit booth.

Here are some of the things you need to think about.

Visual Impact
The design of the trade show exhibit booth should emulate the corporate identity of the business. One thing you must remember in choosing a trade show booth design is consistency. The colors, graphics and texts should be thoroughly considered to ensure that the booth will meet the taste of the potential customers. The booth should be something that stirs up the interest of the trade show visitors. See to it that it’s clear to the customers what products and services you’re offering. The booth should have proper lighting. You can also use multimedia to make it more interesting to your prospects.

Texts
The text should be readable. Make sure that it’s big enough for the attendees to see. You must put the text in the upper area of the display design. This is necessary so that the attendees at the back can still see it. Readability of the text is important if you want to get your message out.

Graphics
The graphic design of the booth has a large impact on the overall appeal of your booth. To make your trade show exhibit booth noticeable, you should use unique graphics to emphasize your products. Graphics can be of great help in enhancing your branding image. The graphic layout should be educational, attention-grabbing, and constructive.

Promotional Items
Tradeshow giveaways are some of the add-ons that you can optimize to capture the interest of your prospects. The items should be relevant to what you’re offering. It’s a must that they entice customers. Consider the items that you will hand out to your prospects. Make sure that they’re memorable and useful.

Remember a combination of great texts and images is the smartest way to accentuate your booth. If you want to make the most of your trade show exhibits, take advantage of the booth design services offered by expert trade show display providers online. Some effective booth design tips are also offered for your satisfaction.

By: Charmaine Joy Caro

Why Do Startups And Small Companies Need To Attend Trade Shows?

Many people who are running a one man show businesses or even a small business believe that exhibiting at a tradeshow is out of their league because of financial considerations, because the large companies have large marketing departments with large budgets, because a tradeshow booth is not affordable, because they just don't have the vision on how to design a booth, how to transport and assemble one, how to work a tradeshow, etc.

Except for the budgetary considerations of actually renting space on the tradeshow floor, everything else is untrue. In this article, I will show you why are tradeshows so important. I am writing this from my own experience, as someone who worked on designing trade show booths, actually set up trade show displays, worked the tradeshow floors as an exhibitor and as a visitor.
Here are some of the reasons why it is important to attend and exhibit at trade shows, even if you are just starting your business or running a small company:

1. Get competitive intelligence

As an entrepreneur running a small company, it is very hard to get competitive intelligence, that is knowledge on how do you compare to your competitors, how do they do things, what makes them more successful that you or less successful than you. Don't forget to put some focus on the less successful scenario also, because you also want to have a list of all the mistakes others make, so you can avoid them.

At a trade show, the easiest possible thing you can do is gather hands-on competitive intelligence. It really does not get more hands-on than that, as you have your competition at the tip of your finger. On the surface, they all seem to be extremely confident through their sales pitches and the flashiness of their marketing gimmicks, but they are in a tremendously vulnerable position, as they are giving everything they got and are also worried about *their* competition, which believe it or not... is you!

Take advantage of this incredible position. The best thing to do is to walk the trade show at the very beginning - that is, before everybody gets to know everybody among exhibitors - and ask questions, ask many, many questions.

Here are some of the things you can get from a simple walk around the exhibit hall:

- A four pound synopsis of your market that you can review at your leisure, from the comfort of your couch that most likely includes a sackful (literally) of literature on suppliers and distributors in your very targeted and unique field, the trade press.

- New market concepts.

- You can also have yourself put on mailing lists, participate in market surveys and earn complimentary subscriptions to a handful of journals.

- More coffee mugs, promotional mints, candy, pens, laminated business cards and free golf balls than you'll ever need.

2. Learn about what your competition thinks about your product or service

Again, this is something to be done at the very beginning of a trade show and works best in larger exhibiting halls.

Introduce yourself as someone else, interested in the product or service offered by you and your competitors. This is a perfect time for you to use your flirting techniques. Get creative, remember you have nothing to lose, you're in control and the ball is in your court.

Get a complete review of your competitor's product line. You can then ask what they think of your company's products and services. Since they don't know who you really are, they'll tell you what they really think. It's actually quite enlightening to hear what your competition really says about you to prospects, remember you are acting as one of their prospects.

This is competitive research as its grittiest and the trade show floor is the best place for it. Studies show that companies are more eager to open up and talk about their competition at a trade show than in any other environment (sure you could just call, but you will not get the same effect).

At this point, if you are still reading this, you are probably wondering why, in the name of everything rational, I am talking about spying on your competition instead of the obvious reasons why trade shows exist, which is promoting a product or a service? Well, analysts and trade show gurus say that investigating the competition is what these shows are really about.

3. Meet your buyers

Show your product or service to people who are hyper-qualified as buyers. Why? Well, because these are the people who have gone through the trouble of attending the show and are really interested in your type of business. You also get to meet current and potential customers and get real feedback and a feel for how is your product or service perceived, how it is really performing and what you can do to make it better, that is, more appealing and more useful for your customers.

4. Meet the press

Meet with people from your industry's trade press. They always attend those events and you will probably never get a better chance to speak one-on-one with the top editorial staff.

You also have a great opportunity to connect with distributors, with wholesalers, with brokers and others in your distribution channel.

5. Sell

You can also sell your product or service, right there, on the spot. Just make sure you have everything you need to do so in place.

Plan ahead and allow for the opportunity for serious business. Most people who come to your booth will be tire-kickers. They'll grab a handful of pistachios, check out your promotional pens (or USB memory drives loaded with your marketing multimedia presentations - hint, hint), cherry pick your printed materials and move on to the next booth. But every once in a while, you'll bag a live one. Know how and where you'll talk to this person at length. Will it be a spot in the rear of the booth, a nearby conference room, a table in the concession area, a later meeting at your company suite? Folks, trust me on this, a wishy-washy "we'll get back to you" attitude will lose the sale. You have to be prepared, if they see you are not ready to close the transaction right there, on the spot (even if in this day and age the trend continues to move away from on-the-spot order writing on trade show floors), they'll leave.

6. Generate leads

This is actually the meat of attending a trade show - creating a follow up mailing list. This is what could (and should) potentially bring return on the major investment you made by attending the trade show. Whether you just collect business cards, write names down on a piece of paper or use the more modern trade show techniques such as scanning people's tags, you must build your mailing list and actually follow up immediately after the show is over, while your marketing effort is still fresh in people's minds.

It really makes a good second impression if you follow up promptly, whether by just a call or sending additional literature and information. Your handling of requests for additional information will show potential clients you value their time and provide quality customer service.

By: Andrei Smith

Introduction To Trade Show Displays

When it comes to displaying items at a trade show, you have many options from banner stands, literature stands and pop-up displays. You may choose to use more than one type of trade show display unit since each one can be used together to give a more full effect and useful information.

Banner Stands
Banner stands come in an array of sizes and designs. the majority of banner stands are portable are designed to be set up in very quickly and have a practical existence for several trade shows as long as they are treated properly. Deciding on which type of banner stand is best for you is to decide among the varieties available. The main types are retractable, spring back and telescopic.

Rollable banner stands are great for creating a floor standing photo mural. This type has hardware that allows the graphic image to be seen from the floor to the top of the image. The main selling point for this type is that from the front of the stand all your potential customers will see is the image. All of the hardware is either hidden or a small portion is at the top or the bottom of the stand. Therefore, the hardware is not what is noticed by visitors to your display. The rollable display can also be attached side by side with other rollable banner stands to create a much longer imager that can be as long as ten feet or more.

Retractable banner stands may be better if you are seeking durability. The graphic in this unit is rolled in and out of a metal housing, which is at the bottom of the display. With retractable banner stands, the lamination is on both sides this will aid in preserving and protecting the image from any type of damage.

Literature Racks

Literature racks also come in many different styles, designs and sizes that will enable you to fit all of the literature that you would like to offer to potential customers. Most of the time trade show literature racks are silver or black and have 3 to 5 pockets. A few larger ones are similar to a magazine rack that you commonly see at the grocery store holding comic books.

The most popular literature rack is probably the Zed Up. This great literature rack has a shelf system that can be folded down and put into its own bag for transporting. The main reason this type of literature rack is popular is that you do not have to remove the literature when you are ready to pack up. There are two sizes of the Zed Up, one with 3 pockets that will hold single brochures and another that will hold larger quantities of literature in each pocket.

You may desire a more sleek and modern design which would be the Slope literature rack. It is also very easy to transport by just folding the rack flat. It has 3 pockets that will hold literature 10 inches wide by 57 inches high and 16 inches deep. The slope has its own carrying bag as well for easier transport.

Pop-up displays

There are quite a few different types of pop-up displays that you can enjoy using for your trade show needs. There are five fashionable types that most people prefer which include the Standard Pop-up Displays, the Photo Mural Pop-up Displays, the Fabric Mural Pop-up Displays, the Commercial Pop-up Displays, and the 3-D Style Pop-up Displays. Each one has their own unique qualities and style to enhance your trade show experience.

The commonest is the standard pop-up. These are normally around 10 feet wide with a curved design. They are usually made with lightweight aluminum frame, PVC or steel channel bars, individual aluminum, or Velcro fabric panels.

The photo mural pop-up displays are pretty much like the standard pop-up displays except they use photo mural panels instead of the Velcro fabric panels. The photo mural pop-ups draw more attention because of the large format graphics that they use.

With the fabric mural pop-up display, you do not have to worry about set up as much. The mural is attached to the frame, which makes setting up faster and easier than with the standard or the photo mural style. This type also weighs less than most standard pop-ups on the market today. You can choose from a curved or non-curved design and most come with their own carrying bag.

Commercial Pop up displays may be what you need, but they are a bit more expensive. This type is sturdy and can take a bit more mistreatment or mishandling than other units can.

One of the newest pop up displays on the market today is the 3-D Style Pop-up Display. These are similar to the fabric mural displays in that the fabric image is attached to the frame, but you can choose from different shapes such as square or round. Set up is easy and quick.

Everything Displays, Inc. is the publisher of this article and is a leading provider of trade show displays, exhibits, booths and accessories, with one of the largest product selections on the web in the industry. Permission is granted to reprint this article, either online or in written publications, as long as this resource box and the link to www.EverythingDisplays.com are attached at the end of the article.

By: Rob Dougan

Introduction To Trade Show Booths

Trade show booths come in an array of styles and designs that will show off your products, your services or your company in an unforgettable manner that offers a unique appeal, which is intelligent, chic and contemporary. Most trade show booths are very easy to assemble and transport to make your experience a more enjoyable one.

Choosing the perfect trade show booth to accommodate the products that you wish to display will be very easy once you know just how much room you will have at the trade show and how much material you will be presenting.

A bit of flash and sophistication never hurt a presentation. You only have a few minutes to grab the attention of a potential customer, client, or buyer. As they walk past your trade show booth, you must have something that will draw their attention, whether it is your personality, the products themselves or a very unique design displayed to entice.

To begin with, you should choose a trade show booth that will fit properly with the allotted space you have been assigned. You can choose from 10 feet by 10 feet, 10 feet by 20 feet or 20 feet by 20 feet Truss trade show booths. Each one has a compelling appeal that with the right graphics will draw a crowd to your booth. Be sure to get a trade show booth that will hold everything you wish to present without your visitors feeling claustrophobic, clutter will definitely turn them away. They should be able to walk around and through your display without bumping into items and knocking items off counters and shelves.

Remember most people will notice items that are eye level. This is where the main attraction should be. You want the area to be well lit, colorful, and maybe even add some music. You must attract attention just before they get to your booth. If they notice a pleasant, stylish, elegant trade show booth, they will at least stop and look around.

Now, you should start to think about what trade show booth you should purchase. In the 10 feet by 10 feet style, you can choose from the Carina, the Pluto, the Mars, Mercury, Cygnus, Lyra, Castor, and Sirius. All of these styles offer durable steel construction, 2 or 3 tabletops in either lightwood or silver in color, 2 or 3 silver spotlights, and the tools for assembly.

If you believe a 10 foot by 20 foot trade show booth will present your products better then you can decide on some quality and professional looking booths such as the Andromeda which comes complete with 4 tabletops and 5 silver spotlights, the Hydrus with 2 tabletops and 5 silver spotlights, the Venus with 5 tabletops and 4 silver spotlights, the Saturn with 2 tabletops and 5 silver spotlights, the Polaris with 4 tabletops and 5 silver spotlights, and the Arcturus with 4 tabletops and 7 silver spotlights. Each one of these trade show booths will have potential customers clamoring to your display to see what you are offering.

Next, in line to consider are the 20 foot by 20-foot trade show booths. You may believe these are just too big for your company. Nevertheless, remember you do not want any clutter and you want your guests to be able to walk around and feel comfortable while they are eyeing your products. This size may be the perfect size to display everything you wish without any worries about missing something you believe is an important selling feature. You can choose from Truss trade booths in this size and style that include the Cassiopeia, the Centaurus, the Neptune, the Jupiter, the Vega and the Orion. All have wonderful features that you desire with steel construction and easy to assemble.

Prices for trade show booths may seem a bit expensive, especially if this is your first time being involved in a trade show. But, you must remember trade show booths are an investment. You can use them time and time again and with the quality steel construction, they can last for years to come. Spending the money now to make a statement for your company is a wise decision that can lead to more money and loyal customers in the years to come.

There are also many different accessories that you can add with your trade show booth that will give your company many more options when presenting your services or products to the world. Enjoy setting up your booth and bring in more customers with the perfect trade show booth with a style of elegance, innovation, and style.

Everything Displays, Inc. is the publisher and owner of this article and is a national leading provider of trade show display solutions, with one of the largest selection of trade show booths on the web. Visit their website to view the numerous trade show booths available including a wide selection of pop up displays and banner stands. Permission is granted to reprint this article, either online or in written publications, as long as this resource box and the link to www.EverythingDisplays.com are attached at the end of the article.

By: Rob Dougan

Introduction To Trade Show Exhibits

When you are planning for your next trade show exhibit you should look back to when you were only browsing the many different booths, exhibits, and displays. Remember what type of exhibits got your attention. Your presentation should also draw the crowd.

Before you just rush out and purchase displays for your trade show exhibition you must take into consideration many different aspects of how you desire your presentation to look and feel. You know you want it to speak to the potential customers that are passing by and hopefully bring them over so you can speak with them. Your exhibit must get their attention so will they walk over, and then you can get their undivided attention.

You must first decide which type of exhibit will be the best to present your products, services and your company image. You should also consider your budget. No matter what your budget you can find the perfect trade show exhibits that will convey your message with the image that you want others to see.

The size of your trade show exhibit can either make or break you. If you have one to large, the exhibit will be overwhelming and if you choose one to small it will look overcrowded and cluttered. The most common sizes for trade show exhibits are 10 feet by 10 feet, 20 feet by 20 feet, and 10 feet by 20 feet. Within this size limitation, you must also choose from pop-up designs, panels or complete Truss trade show display booths.

In the 10 feet by 10 feet size, you can find some great displays in various styles and designs. With the Clever 10 foot panel, you can choose from Backlit Header, lights, the color that you prefer for the lower panel and a different one for the upper panel. The benefits of using these panels are that they are sturdy and durable but very lightweight and easy to transport. The average weight of these panels is around 130 pounds. The Genius I 10 foot panel you can also choose whether you want lights, the counter base color, Counter Laminate Color, the color of the lower panel and the upper panel. The features of this type of panel is that it is a folding panel display system, has 6 upper hinged panels, 6 lower hinged panels, 1 backlit header and lights, 1 alcove counter top and 1 alcove counter base. This wonderful panel is very impressive for all types of displays and normally weighs around 200 pounds.

If you prefer a larger size like the 20 feet by 20 feet, you should like at the features that are included with pop-up displays and Truss display booths. The best pop-up display of this size is the Trilogy 20' x 20' Island Pop up Trade Show Display. The features of this unique display are that it is in actuality three trade show booths in one. It has the 10-foot wide back-to-back exhibiting area that creates a triangular or star shape. If gives you the ability to present your products or different aspects of your company all the way around the display. You will also be able to choose the color and fabric that you desire along with a case to counter conversion kit and the colors and fabrics of this kit, lights, shelf package, Backlit Header Package and Reconfiguration Panels. 20 feet by 20 feet Truss booths come in a few unique styles such as the Cassiopeia, which features a steel construction; high shine silver color, 4 tabletops, and the ability to assemble with just four screwdrivers that are included. The Centaurus features the same quality steel construction, the high shine silver color, 24 silver spotlights, and the ability to add tabletops in either lightwood or silver in color. The Neptune is sure to grab attention with features like a modular system that is quick and easy to assemble. The Jupiter is another modern and innovative display which gives you great features such as high shine silver color, quality steel construction, 6 tabletops in either light wood or silver, 8 silver spot lights, and easy to assemble with screw drivers that are included. The Vega is similar to other Truss booths but is an eye catching and appealing booth with options for tabletops, colors, and design.

The 10 feet by 20 feet size of displays gives you styles and designs to choose from such as pop-display’s, panels, and Truss booths. All of these also have many unique styles and designs that are sure to aid you in presenting your products, your company, or your services in a manner that is not only unique, stylish and original, but with prices within your budget.

Everything Displays, Inc. is the publisher of this article and is a national leading provider of trade show exhibit solutions, with one of the largest selection of trade show exhibits on the web. Visit their website to view the numerous trade show exhibits available including a wide selection of pop up displays and literature racks. Permission is granted to reprint this article, either online or in written publications, as long as this resource box and the link to www.EverythingDisplays.com are attached at the end of the article.

By: Rob Dougan

8 Secrets To A Profitable Trade Show

You couldn’t contain your excitement and eagerly reserved exhibit space at the upcoming regional trade show. I know what you were thinking…”The traffic at this show will be fantastic and I’ll get more leads than I ever imagined.”

And when the show was over, you got nothing for all your hard work.

So what happened? Why didn’t your $600 booth space, $400 for collateral materials, and two days on the show floor produce any meaningful results?

You got nothing because you had no valid method to address the two most critical trade show issues. First, is the show a reasonable marketing vehicle for you, and second, if so, how can you best use it to attract prospects. Without any thought, most business owners assume that a trade show in their industry is a smart decision and they plunk down big dollars with little consideration to other important details. There are many factors to consider though.

Trade shows can be one of the most productive and profitable means for promoting your company and your products. But you must know the secrets and follow a process or it’s a waste of your time and money.

1. Request information from Show Management

Don’t commit to any trade show without first requesting information from show management. What are the profiles of the attendees? How many attended last year? How are they marketing the show? These are important issues you must consider before making a commitment.

2. Create a plan – don’t just show up with a booth

Consider your goal of the show and then establish a plan. You have much more at your disposal than a table and booth: show theme, décor, signage, giveaways, literature, staffing, lead retrieval, and more. Each of these can be critical to your success.

3. Consider pre-marketing

Data is available that clearly indicates that pre-show marketing significantly increases booth attendance. A mailer or two in advance might be an appropriate component.

4. Give attendees a compelling reason to visit your booth

I have walked many trade show floors and time after time have seen booth personnel standing out front like rigid toy soldiers, with the standard stack of company brochures and business cards lined up on the table. Is there any wonder no one was interested in any of them? You don’t have to hire a clown, but do something to attract attention and let the attendees know the value you offer them.

5. Educate and train booth personnel

Your people are your greatest asset. Professionalism, knowledge, attentiveness and a big smile are always appreciated.

6. Use a system to record individual lead information

If a card-scanning lead retrieval system is not available, then create lead sheets for collecting information, or if nothing else, write on the backs of business cards. Nothing is more frustrating than to create a lot of show leads and not know what your prospects’ needs are when you follow-up with them.

7. Follow-up promptly with prospects

You’ve invested your time and money, why not maximize your results? Leads left unattended will quickly grow cold. Set a specific date and be certain all leads are contacted before then.

8. Evaluate your show ROI

Track your leads and sales for each show so you know whether or not to consider that individual one again in future years.

Profitable trade shows require much more than managing a booth space. Create an organized and systematic marketing plan and you’ll have the tools and processes you need to achieve your goals.

By: Larry Baltz

Top 5 Reasons For Buying A Used Trade Show Booth

You've done a couple of trade shows, rented a couple of spaces in exhibition halls, and admit it, you're hooked. You love the excitement of the crowds, of meeting your clients up close and in person. Hey, you don't even mind your aching feet! And you've been thinking that you'd like to do more trade shows and want a booth of your own.

The trouble is you can't really afford to go all out yet and have a brand spanking new booth designed. Your bottom line is saying no, but your heart and intuition are saying yes.

Buying a used trade show booth is the answer to your dilemma! Which is also the first reason for buying a used booth. Money! Yes, you can save quite a bit of money by purchasing a used one. Used trade show booths can be big bargains and can be found to fit most any budget, no matter how small.

The second reason you should consider buying a used trade show booth is that the affordability factor means that the money you save can be put into other trade show event promotional items. Face it, people not only want free stuff from you at a trade show, they expect it. And the more money you can spend on your promo items, the better!

A third reason for buying a used trade show booth is that if you plan to do a lot of trade shows, it only makes sense to own your own booth-for the same reason it makes more sense to buy a house than to rent an apartment. You make your investment in a used trade show booth and it's yours to keep forever-or sell to someone else when you're ready to upgrade to a brand new booth. The money you've saved in booth rentals will go a long way toward your purchase of the booth of your dreams.

Fourth, buying a used trade show booth not only lowers your financial risks, it lowers your stress levels as well! Financially, you've invested only what you can spend, which has pleased your bottom line. And because you own your trade show booth, you can relax, knowing exactly what you have and not having the stress of worrying if the booth rental will be on time, up to snuff, etc. This means you have more time and energy to put into other important things-like packing great clothes to take with you to the trade show!

Finally, the fifth reason you should consider buying a used trade show booth is that it allows you to learn the ups and downs of trade show events and work out all the bugs in your trade show exhibition program without having to make a major investment. This makes it possible to please yourself, your accountant and your customers, while learning if trade show events are truly profitable and worth the effort for your business.

By: Patty Stripes

Trade Show Marketers: How To Make Attendees Willingly Rush To Your Booth

Trade show booths are a lot like cars. They all basically do the same thing: they take you from point A to point B. Some do it in sleek, chic manner, others with zip and zing, and sill others do it more by just sort of lumbering along.

And when it comes to your trade show booth, the last thing you want to do is lumber along. You want a trade show booth with class, sass and kick, well, you know.

The absolute best way to ensure your trade show booth has just the right combination or class and sass is to hire graphic design experts to create the perfect trade show booth for your business.

Yes, you can buy a trade show booth that's more or less designed using a template, and it will look good. But you want more for your booth than to just look good: you want it to be stunning and hypnotic and suck people over to check you out like they will a lovely Jag in a mall parking lot.

Graphic designers know how to do this. They'll take the time to learn about you and your business. They'll look at all your marketing materials for colors and themes they can use in your trade show booth. Professional graphic designers know their eye candy and can guarantee you will have a visually appealing trade show booth that customers will be drawn to.

More importantly, what professional graphic designers can do is to develop an overall marketing concept for your trade show booth. Why is that important? Every great marketing and advertising campaign has a concept, a basic message that it works to convey. That concept will carry through all of a companies advertising and marketing materials by using various elements in them all of them to ensure that consumers are saturated with that message.

For instance, if your company uses the colors royal blue and white, you want these colors to be dominant in your booth design. You don't want to go with purple and green for your booth, though you would definitely stand out from the trade show booth crowd using that combination of colors! What would happen, though, is after the trade show when a customer saw your standard royal blue and white marketing materials, they wouldn't automatically connect those materials with your business-and worse, might toss them in the trash.

Professional graphic designers also know how color and visuals work together to be appealing, inviting and tell a story. They also understand color and balance, and how to use them to get a response from the viewer. And that response should always be something more than “Oh, what a nice-looking trade show booth.” They can create a trade show booth that will have customers going “Oh, wow! I've got to get over to that booth right now. Gotta check it out!”

And really, why would anyone settle for being nice looking when they could be fabulous! Or lumber along in a nice mini-van when they could just as easily be zipping around in a Porsche!

By: Patty Stripes

How To Design An Irresistible Tradeshow Booth

Once you've made the decision to go on the trade show circuit, suddenly your heart starts pounding, you feel a little dizzy. Now you have to have a trade show booth! Questions start swirling through your head and you get a somewhat queasy feeling in your stomach.

Relax. You already have the key to a compelling trade show booth: your company. Now all you have to do is come up with a design that fits it.

Before you start panicking again, think about your letterhead and logo (you do have those, right? RIGHT?). Usually, companies will use the same colors and many of the same graphics they use in their marketing materials for the foundation of their trade show booth design. These are essential parts of a great trade show booth because you want the booth to stay within the overall branding of your company.

Now think color. You want to reel them in, and one of the easiest ways to do this is to have an inviting-or bold-trade show booth out there on the floor. You want to keep the colors balanced for aesthetic appeal. If your logo is primarily red, then go all out and use a red and black color scheme. Red and black are power colors that make people sit up, or in this case, walk up, and take notice.

Which is exactly what you want them to do. Bright, cheerful colors do well in trade show booth designs because they signify energy and class.

What if your colors are less bold, more pastel, even white and black? These are great too! Especially when everyone else's trade show booths are shouting COLOR! COLOR! COLOR! One of the most successful trade show booths ever for a Fortune 500 company was white and pale gray, with hints of red and black set against some gorgeous visuals.

Why? With small, some simple spotlights highlighting the visual panels of the booth and a little greenery carefully arranged in front of the trade show booth, along with a matching carpet of pale gray and a couple of folding directors' chairs, this trade show booth was a virtual oasis in a sea of color noise. And people literally flocked to it. Because it was different.

And that's another way to have an extremely effective, powerful trade show booth design. Get sneaky! Find out what your competition's up to. Then do the opposite! This is a sure way to compel people to your booth. You'll stand out and people will just have to find out why, what you're up to.

Of course, once you reel people over to your killer trade show booth, you want to be sure they're compelled to stick around! This is where your staff is vital. Cheerful, up-beat people, who enjoy dealing with the public and who KNOW YOUR PRODUCT OR SERVICE, are essential to a successful trade show booth. So make sure your staff is as appealing (and it won't hurt if they have a bit of the old carney in them!) as the trade show booth design that brought them there to begin with!

By: Patty Stripes

Trade Show Promotions

Along with conventional advertising and below the line activities, organizations and corporate bodies have come to realize that they need to invest in trade shows in order to create maximum recall for their product or brand name. There are several benefits to participating in a trade show. Some of them are:

A trade show offers the manufacturer a direct platform to interact with the very people who will be making purchasing decisions. Most purchasing managers of corporations make it a point to attend trade shows relevant to their needs in order to evaluate a wide range of products and services, all under one roof. If offers them variety, at a fraction of the time regular meetings with sales personnel form all those companies ever could. If this is the reason why they visit trade shows, isn’t it obvious that your product or service needs to be showcased in the trade show as well?

Two, trade shows offer all manufacturers a level playing field. Of course it may not seem like this as some manufacturers have bigger spaces with far better stalls and displays, but at the heart of it all, a trade show is where conventional competitors come together to provide the end user with the best possible information to make a purchasing judgement.

Three, trade shows provide manufacturers, especially relatively unknown ones, with a readymade audience that is focused, targeted and in the best frame of mind to make a purchasing decision. As far as targeted advertising goes, a trade show is by far the most effective way to reach the target audience.

A trade show also allows for demonstrations. Conventional print advertising is not interactive and showing demonstrations on television could prove really expensive and not worth the investment. But in a trade show, a demonstrations is almost a pre-requisite. I still remember a heavy machinety trade show I had the opportunity to attend. On one hand, there was Ingersoll-Rand with their range of diggers, back hoes and dump trucks. On the other hand, there was caterpillar with their ‘Cat’ range of equipment. Elsewhere, Komatsu had lined up their state-of-the-art equipment. Being able to see all these equipment on display, performing actual tasks that they were created for gave not only me, but all other purchasing managers there an unforgettable demonstration. You can be sure that when the time to take a decision arrived, we had no problems in picking our personal preferences!

But not all trade shows are effective. It is a sad part of the competitive world we live I that several fly-by-night operators have entered the trade show industry. Out to make a quick buck, these unscrupulous operators try and organize events and trade shows that neither have a reputation, nor attract manufacturers with one. As a result, the gullible manufacturers who invest time, money and effort in these trade shows, lose a lot. The best way to stay clear of such operators is to stick with trade show organizers who have a proven track record, are reliable and provide you with measurable service.

Online and offline organizations like the National Trade Productions and the Trade Show Exhibitors Association of America (www.tsea.org) offers several tips and guidelines on how you can get the maximum value from your investment in trade shows. By linking organizations and individuals involved with trade shows and the trade events businesses, these associations enable a connected trade show exhibitor’s world where each and every member can learn from the collective experience of all the members. Where applicable or necessary, local chapters also exist and provide the same services to exhibits on a local scale. You can never go wrong if you follow the simple guidelines these associations offer.

By: Zhang Sui Liang

Trade Shows - A Microcosm Of Marketing

Trade shows can be absolutely essential to a business and the life blood-- supplying new customers and sales to your bottom line. Though you may present your trade show exhibits at an industry trade show only a few times per year, tradeshows are a great opportunity to make new prospects, reconnect with current customers and present your products and services to other trade show attendees as well as see what the competition is up to -- all in one convenient location. Trade shows can be a concentrated dose of marketing feedback and valuable lessons. Pay attention to what your potential tradeshow booth visitors are saying. You can learn a great deal in short order by attending and displaying your tradeshow booth displays at trade shows. Making adjustments accordingly to your marketing message can save you months and a considerable amount of money in the long run.

To some presenters, trade shows are a dreaded obligation resulting in aching feet and tired sales staff for those that must work the exhibit booths, but those who feel this way just don’t see the opportunity at hand. A tradeshow booth is one of the few marketing opportunities that is a two way street. Rarely anymore do we have a chance to look into the eyes of potential customers in such a non-threatening, open environment. Sure the internet is supposedly a two-way communication tool -- connecting us directly with our consumers, but only in a tradeshow booth do you find a pre-qualified, interested observer willing to talk with you and give you their valuable opinion. They paid to be there! This is priceless! They have not yet made a commitment. They have not walked into your store or show room. They are merely visiting your portable trade show exhibit, but they are a wealth of knowledge and information.

Often it is a challenge to quantify the return on investment of your marketing message of your tradeshow booth design. But everyone else in the industry has exhibit displays there at the big industry trade show…you can’t not be seen there, lest you risk being left behind in the proverbial dust. So you might as well get the most information from potential customers, and generate as much good will and as many leads as possible while you are attending your next tradeshow.

S2imaging is the expert supplier of trade show graphics, tradeshow booth design and small to medium sized tradeshow booths and exhibit displays. S2 imaging ships everything from 20 x 20ft trade show exhibits to portable trade show exhibit pop up display stands, shipping crates and literature racks all across the nation. Orders can be quickly placed from their easy to navigate website at 's2imaging'.

Fortunately 'S2imaging' has some of the best pricing in the industry on vinyl banners, trade show displays and portable trade show booths so making adjustments to your messaging or even completely redressing your trade show display can be an affordable alternative.

By: Joe Shaw

Generate Traffic, Boost Sales With The Right Trade Show Graphics

After choosing the style for your trade show display, the next most important part of creating your signature space is creating trade show graphics that will make prospects stop in their tracks.

The graphic elements of your trade show display are as essential to getting results as the paint on an artist’s canvas. There are many creative directions you can go with this idea, and many of your competitors will default to using the company logo for their graphic because it’s easiest. But this works best when you have firm brand recognition, like Apple Computer or a compelling, attention-grabbing logo like Target Stores, or you have a combination of both, like McDonald’s.

But if you don’t have that concrete brand recognition yet, there are plenty of alternatives to effectively executing the use of your trade show display graphics. Here are some guidelines you should follow to give you the best chance at getting the results you want.

Do:

Think from the Customer’s Perspective – If a prospect knows nothing about your company, what would you first want them to know or understand about you? And how can you communicate that in your trade show display graphics at first glance? Put yourself in the customer’s shoes – most of us know from Marketing 101 that if you don’t get the customer’s attention in a few seconds, you can forget it. So, don’t waste their time – make them feel grateful that they stopped to talk to you.

Have a Clear Goal for the Prospect – Know the result you want from the prospect before you even get started. Do you want the prospect to associate your product with fun, reliability or strength? Or, maybe you want to encourage the prospect to come to your sales staff for more information? Or do you want to go straight for the sale? It’s best to get clear before you even start brainstorming possibilities so that your message will not get buried under other intentions.

Keep Your Marketing Message Concise – Attendees have much ground to cover at trade shows and not a lot of time to accomplish the task. The more directly and concisely your message is communicated through your trade show graphics, the easier it will be for prospects to make a decision to stop at your trade show booth or keep going. The message should not require a lot of effort to understand – keeping it short, simple and to the point is best.

Test It – Run the idea by a handful of people who are not marketing-minded and don’t mind hurting your feelings if they don’t like or agree with your ideas. You don’t need “yes-men,” rather, you need people who will be brutally honest and clearly express when they like or don’t like something, understand or don’t understand it. You need honest, gut-reactions to your trade show graphics. It’s always a good idea to ask for feedback – no matter how informal the testing process – before running with it.

Don’t:

Clutter the Message with Details – Keep in mind that the graphical elements of your trade show display should be designed to get the prospect’s attention. Any specifics that you want to communicate can be effectively done with brochures, postcards and other marketing materials. Too much text that attempts to explain the graphics is futile – and if the graphic makes no sense when you remove the bulk of the text, then you need a new graphic.

Settle for a Concept that Doesn’t Work – If you find yourself struggling too much to make the trade show display graphics work, or you aren’t getting the response you intended when sharing the concept with others, don’t try to force it. Go back to the drawing board rather than wasting your energy to push something that does not work. Prospects will be turned off by such an attempt, and you’ll be driving traffic away from you and toward your competitor’s trade show booth instead.

Trade show display graphics are a crucial element in making your space attractive to prospects. As you plan your presentation for your next trade show, take time with the specific graphical design elements because these are one of the details the prospect will recognize that separates you from your competitors.

By: Mat Kelly

9 Steps To Making Trade Shows Pay Off

This fascinating thrill ride is filled with all the twists and turns of exciting information, so be sure to hold on for this bumpy ride!

If, like many concernes in the juicy preceding, you dialed down participation in concern conferences, now's a smart time to re-engage. This thing seeks to help you make certainly the money and workforce you invest in a show experience will pay off in stronger shopper relationliners and profitable sales leads.

Too regularly, hectic small companies create preparations for shows only being beforehand, when they liner exhibition equipment and make trek arrangements. Sound known?

That arrangets way too greatly to gamble. Instead, you should a long-period policy for shows that dovetails with the balance of your crowd marketing. repress out this nine-action arrange for receiving the most out of your trade-show buck.

We hope that you have gained a clear grasp of the subject matter presented in the first half of this article.

1. technique an largely policy. The reasons you focus conferences are to associate with modern and prospective shoppers, of course, and, regularly too, to learn about new technologies or crop that will control your hope. How successfully you accomplish this and whether your time is well useless is the key.

First, evaluate which shows over the year are appeal your while. You want audiences seasoned for your marketing and crop. "Set exact trade show goals with quantifiable objectives," says Jeff Hilton, leader of the Integcostd scratcheting Group in brackish Lake City. "body a P&L for your participation and meacertainly your performance agrowst it." You might, for command, set a goal of reunion three new shoppers on each show day in order to engender a specific quantity of send-show sales.

Also, look into opportunities to become a amplifier or a panelist, which grows you recognition and credibility. "Keep in view that this handle starts forcibly one year in expand of the incident," says Kevin McLaughlin, running partner at communali in New Brunswick, N.J.

Then inhibit behavior to cut overheads. For command, if you arrange a significant total of trek, you might cost favored-vendor position at a lodge sequence.

2. explore objectives. Exhibition handbooks and workforceers are a opulent and regularly overlooked store. Before a show, relate delegates you want to rally and incidents or twilight activities that will be profitable for you to focus. "Think of the show as one-to-one promotion, only in an intense time border," says Ken chef, running chief at Peer to Peer Advisors in Wales, bulk. "Each day is a sequence of get-togethers with pre-preferred objective shoppers in an environment where the focus is on what you covenant."

In addition, put in a call to the show PR workforce about a week before chance day. Ask about high-profile amplifiers or produce debuts and judge how to tangle your marketing with show promotions. For example: "If you find the show's PR workforce is headfirst a report idea to the media that hysterics your produce, ask if they would embrace your crowd's name as an example in their pitch," says Steve Dubin, leader at PR machinery in Kingston, bulk. (See No. 5 below too.)

3. forward expand introductions. Don't stop awaiting the show to receiver your objectives. form show dispatchers (not your familiar marketing leaflet) that embrace a mystery or covenant to charm travel to your cubicle, or that makes your produce distinctive. Such post, whether via e-dispatch reportsletters or instruct dispatch, can certainly be formed with Microsoft workplace Publisher with little price.

4. Have a arrange B. As you know all too well, linerments are regularly loseing and trek arrangements go crooked. Do not feign the box of cubicle equipment you liner will disembark on time and intact. Make certainly there's a backing arrange for workforce, marketing and something moreover you'll should.

5. date concern media. Shows are an admirable opportunity to rally face-to-face with concern editors and reporters to state report dreams, start your executives or spokespeople, and to start ongoing relationliners, says Jody Summers at Trozzolo Communications Group in Kansas City, Mo. "Done fittingly, concernes stagger away having made a associateion with concern media as well as their shoppers." Don't overlook that most shows also issue daily reports bulletins, both issue and online, that you can also influence for recognition.

With that in view, you might hire a PR stiff to supervise your trade show appearances, createning some months before and kicking in during shows. For $5,000 or so, you can outsource the messaging, equipment and dispatchers, promote grow access to concern editorial receivers for interviews and stories. You're then boundless to concentcost on concern and still promote from a successful show.

6. Get noticed. Don't ever feign focusees will find you. Experts consent you must devise a way to prevail out, but they disconsent on the how.

Some propose loud, bold displays that no one will lose from across the passage. Others propose the differing: "By developing an charmive oppose-programming stateation geared to one-to-one relateion with the singular join, small concernes can position an exhibit area that's a refuge for the convention weary," says scratch Hopkinson, chairman of Newsscratch communal Relations in Palm sand Gardens, Fla. For command, have tons of juicy chocolate to covenant in bargain mugs that embrace your Web address and receiver number.

Or covenant online army that let delegates relate with your produce or covenantings. For example, Microsoft's Appointment executive allows receivers to schedule appointments at their convenience for hunt-up reunions. Microsoft workplace Live gathering lets you covenant live webcasts or outside-access reunions during the show.

One unfussy draw is to susquander a chance with an charmive prize. hoard concern cards during the show and then draw one on the last day for the winner. More creative giveabehavior objective the exact travel you want by appealing to a singular ability or test. One crowd that sells mainframe servers urbanized an online puzzle that focusees could perfect only after they arrivaled home. That led objective shoppers to catalog on the crowd Web position after the show was over, says Elliott Black, leader of EMBA, a publicist in Northbrook, Ill.

7. form a words. Write down a show pitch and then groom it with every workforceer who will man a cubicle, stagger the story or focus seminars. Do not wing it. You want every worker to become an articulate crowd ambassador and you particularly want all the messaging to be consistent. adversity its effectiveness by count the sales leads you get at the show. Then refine the words accordingly.

8. body relationliners with focusees. "Know how to ask questions," says Ted Sun, an executive coach based in Columbus, Ohio. "Most people at trade shows impetus their crop on people. But when you sit back and ask questions, you learn a great covenant about the shopper." That leads to a long relationliner, pretty than a one-off covenant.

9. trail up swiftly. Studies show that most trade show leads are never re-receivered or activated, which wastes the time and money you squander. "Show hunt-up should occur inside five being after the show, not some weeks later when the receiver is cold," says Integcostd scratcheting's Hilton.

A good arrival on your trade show investment means you should to arrange, groom and then hunt up.

Having this information handy will help you a great deal the next time you find yourself in need of it.

By: bestworldtravel

Eight Effortless Exercises To Improve Tradeshow Performance

Tradeshow exhibitors have something in common with the rest of humanity: We’ll do what is easy, but avoid what those things we find to be or perceive as difficult. It doesn’t really matter what sphere we’re talking about: human nature dictates that more often than not, we seek out the smoother path, the gentler grade, the easier climb.

So in order to appeal to human nature and improve your tradeshow performance, I offer you this: Eight Effortless Exercises you can do with your team. Nothing here is particularly difficult, yet all are devastatingly effective. If your team can implement what they learn during these exercises on the tradeshow floor, I can guarantee that you’ll be very pleased with the result.

1. Go Over the Goals

Booth staffers function best when they have full knowledge of what as an organization, you’re trying, to achieve at the show. A show where you’re launching a new product and want to raise brand awareness is, in some ways, a fundamentally different exercise than a show where you’re simply attempting to reinforce existing relationships and move as much product as possible. Meet with your team and spell out exactly what you hope to accomplish. This is a good time to let them know what you expect on an individual as well as an organizational level.

2. Play Trivial Pursuit

How well does your team know your products and services? How about your company’s structure, organization, and public image? You might be surprised. Test your team with a friendly game modeled after Trivial Pursuit™ or Jeopardy™. Instead of random trivia questions, use questions centered on your products and services. Make sure these questions range from the everyday -- detailing features and benefits -- to the relatively off-topic -- are your products manufactured in the country? If not, where, and under what conditions? This exercise will reinforce product knowledge and help your team be prepared for whatever questions come their way.

3. Body Language Bingo

This is a fun exercise. Snap pictures (or use pictures you already have) at a tradeshow and industry event. You want images of people slouching, eating, ignoring attendees, chatting with peers, and otherwise behaving badly at shows. (I wouldn’t recommend using pictures of your own people, in the interest of company harmony, but that’s up to you!)

Create little bingo cards detailing the bad behaviors, and distribute them to your team. Display the images on a screen and have them identify problem behaviors. Again, this will reinforce to your team what they shouldn’t be doing. For a little fun, give the first person to call “Bingo” a prize.

4. Sew Their Pockets Shut

Ok, you don’t really want to sew their pants pocket shut -- but consider distributing double sided sticky tape that your staffers can use to close their pockets. This will encourage them to keep their hands out of their pockets, a behavior that tradeshow attendees consistently identify as unattractive and off-putting.

Remember to play fair. Give your booth staffers something productive to do with their hands to overcome the natural tendency to fidget. Often, having something official to do with their hands relieves a lot of anxiety.

5. The Name Game

Relationship building is easier and more effective when you use the other person’s name. Study after study has shown that people universally respond positively to hearing their own name, as long as it doesn’t seem affected and forced.

Do role playing exercises focused on learning the other person’s name and working it naturally into conversation. To make it more realistic, have both parties wear fake ‘show badges’ with a name that’s not their own.

6. Do the Demo

Before the show, have your team members actually practice the demo you expect them to perform during the show. This gives them time to familiarize themselves with the equipment -- critical, as many salespeople generally aren’t ‘hands on’ with the merchandise -- and become comfortable demonstrating it.

7. Teach the Technology

If you’re using card scanners or other lead gathering technology, schedule a time to actually teach your team how to use it. You want your team to be proficient with the equipment and not spend valuable, limited show time trying to figure out how to work the scanner.

8. Finesse Follow Up

Maximize the return you realize on the show by following up on every lead. Delegate responsibilities before the show and introduce an element of accountability: simply by letting your team know what they’re expected to do and when they’re expected to do it, you’ll see a marked increase in return.

You see? That wasn’t so hard! These effortless exercises don’t require much in the way of equipment or money, just a little time. Considering the impact that enhanced tradeshow performance can have on your bottom line, isn’t it worth it?

By: Susan A. Friedmann

Improve Your Trade Show Results By Writing Articles

It is well-known among internet marketers that writing and distributing articles is one of the best and least expensive ways to promote products and services to a very wide audience. If you are involved in trade show or event marketing, you can use this technique to very effectively support your event marketing efforts.

**Supporting your trade show marketing with articles**

Let's say you are a wedding photographer who shoots weddings within a radius of about 150 miles of your office or home. You are selective about which weddings you will shoot because, quite frankly, some pay better than others. So you are interested in reinforcing your carefully developed image. Your image is of a photographer who does work that is more creative and of higher quality than what you get from the average wedding photographer.

One of the successful methods you use to promote your services is to enter two or three specialty wedding trade shows held every year in different cities within your target area. Because these shows are geared specifically towards couples who want "something special" (that is, they are prepared to spend more money), they help you reach the "better than average" clientele you are after.

**A perfect opportunity to reinforce your special image**

This is a perfect scenario for reinforcing your image by writing and publishing articles about wedding photography. Of course you have to be careful that your articles don't sound blatantly self-promoting. Most article marketers suggest your articles contain interesting, general information that can stand apart from the fact that you just happen to be providing the services you are writing about.

For instance, you might write an article called "Do Something Different with Your Wedding Photos", where you describe some different techniques and locations that might be used. Or "Wedding Photography Over the Last 50 Years", or "Should Your Photographer Choose Your Wedding Outfits?", or "5 Secret Locations to Shoot Your Wedding Photos", or "Perils of a Wedding Photographer".

There is really no limit to the number of original and interesting stories you could can come up with if you just use your imagination.

A good article marketing campaign will consist of at least three or four articles written and distributed just before the peak periods in your marketing cycle. If you are trying to reinforce your trade show marketing, make sure you prepare your articles well before the trade shows you are entering.

**How to distribute your articles**

Your objective is to use these articles to create an identity for yourself at the same time as getting yourself lots of free publicity. The more places you distribute your articles, the more prospective customers you will reach, so don't be timid about getting your articles out there.

The obvious place to start is by posting them on your own website. Create an article section and mix in articles from other (non-competing) writers. This will make your website a more valuable resource for your prospective customers, and it will enhance your image in their eyes.

Second, consider distributing your article to the local print media. If it is interesting enough -- and not just a self-promotion -- some of them will very likely publish it. The important thing is to find an interesting angle. Think in terms of their readers and write for them. Some media will even have special sections -- weddings, home renovations, automobiles, outdoor, sports -- that you can contribute to.

Third, if you are entering trade shows, send your material to the trade show organizers. They may publish a show program and may be looking for interesting material that helps make their program appear more substantial.

**Distribution on the internet**

If you are catering to local customers you may think the internet is overkill. But you would be wrong. If you are trying to reach prospects in, say, the Lexington area, make sure you write your article so the search engines know your service focuses on the Lexington area. They will do a great job getting you exposure for searches like "wedding photography Lexington", "Lexington auto detailing", or "kitchen renovators in Lexington".

Distribute your articles to as many key article websites on the internet as you can find. This will do three things for you. First, a lot of people will read your articles on these sites. Second, other sites interested in your subject matter will republish your article, exposing it to an even wider audience. And third, the major search engines will analyse and index your article and it will start appearing in searches.

**Using a professional article writing service**

You may not feel comfortable writing your own articles, and you may think it is much too time consuming to do your own distribution. That's when you should look for a reliable service to do both of these things for you. You might be surprised to find out how many writers and promoters there are out there ready to go to work for you.

Look for a service that has a solid track record. They should be able to show you writing examples, and they should be able to give you a very good idea where they intend to distribute your articles. As with most other specialized services you will probably find it is a lot more efficient to let a professional do it for you than to try to do it yourself.

By: Rick Hendershot

Promotional Pens - A Great Trade Show Giveaway

One of the best items that you can give away during a trade show is a promotional pen. They are very popular at trade shows for a good reason – when people go to trade shows, they are inundated with papers, pamphlets and flyers, most of which get tossed into a pile back at the office, never to be looked at again. However, if you had out a promotional pen with your papers or pamphlets, your pen will likely be looked at again, and again by potential clients at the trade show, even when they are back in the office.

The chief reason that promotional pens are so popular at trade shows is due to their size and functionality – they are compact and something that everyone and every business (read, potential client) needs and uses every day. In comparison to other promotional items, promotional pens are compact and easy to carry, especially when people are browsing around a trade show. It also helps you, the business, especially if you have limited space in your trade show booth.

Keep in mind that when people are at a trade show, they are doing a lot of different activities and most of those activities involve writing. You would actually be doing the people at the trade show a favor by ensuring that your pen is in their hands. Potential clients could be using your pens at sign up booths, to exchange contact information and to keep notes of the activities and vendors at a trade show. You would be distributing a valuable tool of the trade show that potential customers and clients would value and appreciate.

There are many types of promotional items that you can choose from, and having a variety of them with your business logo imprinted is important, however if you are looking for a promotional item to hand out at a trade show, an umbrella or mug for example, would be cumbersome and difficult to carry and many potential clients would pass on the offer anyway. A promotional keyring is also small to carry, but would likely be tossed into a bag, purse or pocket not to be seen again until later at home or at the office. You want your promotional item to be in the hands of people at the trade show, something they refer to often, without it being difficult to carry, thusly, handing out promotional pens at trade shows is the best choice for promotional items.

There are many types of promotional printed pens that you can choose from – from expensive looking engraved silver or gold pens to less expensive plastic pens, why you could even choose a highlighter or multi-functional promotional pen. The choices are truly endless, there are so many styles to choose from, there is sure to be one that fits your company’s logo and style and your budget. Where else can you get advertising that literally works for you without you being there for just pennies a piece? Check out the large selection of promotional and engraved pens that are available, just waiting for your logo to be imprinted on them to hand out at the next trade show.

By: Gareth Parkin